Roma awarded 3-0 walkover win against Cagliari

By Reuters

24/09/2012 at 23:24

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Roma have been awarded a 3-0 walkover win for Sunday's Serie A match at Cagliari after the game was called off for security reasons.

Cagliari club president Massimo Cellino was also referred to the Italian football federation's prosecutor for possible further sanctions after calling on supporters to defy an order from local authorities to play the game behind closed doors.

Cagliari have moved to the Is Arenas on the outskirts of the Sardinian capital but authorities ruled last Thursday that the renovated stadium was not ready to host Serie A games despite recent improvements.

The Sardinians had previously been forced to play their opening Serie A home match against Atalanta behind closed doors.

On Saturday, Cagliari issued a statement slamming "the bureaucratic difficulties and the collective disinterest of the authorities". They invited fans to watch the Roma game, saying the stadium was safe.

Cagliari's city government responded by postponing the game.

Cagliari had played at the Stadio Sant'Elia from 1970 until late on last season when they abandoned the dilapidated arena due to disagreements with the local authorities and growing safety worries.

They staged their remaining home games last season in Trieste, around 1,000 miles from their base and closer to Belgrade than the Sardinian capital.